A Ringing…er…Endorsement.

Lately, apathy has set in to the Democratic legions. Edwards is pulling ahead in some polls, presumably because his week-long silence has allowed Hillary and Obama’s incessant insult-flinging to take center stage, reminding the left side of the spectrum that their palette of potential candidates is nearly as disappointing as the Right’s. Currently, their only advantage appears to be their appeal to certain target demographics: women, minorities, and with Edwards, a group of persons who are quite convinced that their fleet of Navigators and stocks of aerosol hairspray are non-dangerous, as they reside in a Second America.

But let’s not gloat.

Edwards has a lot going for him. His continuous source of funding makes it unnecessary for him to bow to any outside, smaller sources of funding, such as the readership of the DailyKos, which has, oddly, embraced him anyway. He has no need to make critical decisions on policy, since his opponents have chosen to make no such decisions, either. His demographic, the rich white male, has decided every election in history. He has mastered the double-speak necessary to bely a conscientiousness regarding poverty without ever having to acknowledge it himself. He’s manufactured his own fervor, capitalized on his own victimhood, and to top it off, his wife can do what even Michelle Obama can’t–master the art of the covert left-field attack.

He’s a dark horse, we tell you. And to top it off, he has the support of perhaps the greatest, most stereotypical liberal politician in history, Jimmy Carter.

Former President Jimmy Carter welcomed Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards to South Georgia on Wednesday, embracing the fellow Southerner as a kindred spirit on poverty and the environment.

Carter and Edwards shared the stage at Carter’s alma mater, Georgia Southwestern State University. Carter stopped short of endorsing the former U.S. senator from North Carolina but called him “a candidate whom I really admire.”

“I can say without equivocation that no one who is running for president has presented anywhere near as comprehensive and accurate a prediction of what our country ought to do in the field of environmental quality, in the field of healthcare for those who are not presently insured, for those who struggle with poverty,” Carter said.

He predicted that Edwards “has a very good chance to do well” in the presidential race.

Carter may have stopped being relevant almost three decades ago, but that doesn’t mean a Jimmy endorsement should be pooh-poohed. Judging by the success of the Carter center in ensuring the victory of so many previous, terrible candidates (namely, Hugo Chavez) the though of Jimmy verbally ensuring an Edwards victory should leave Republicans shaking in their boots and unsure of their Diebold stock.